PUEBLO – Championship secured.
After back-to-back years of losing in the semifinals, the Cheyenne Wells football team came into the 2021 season on the short list of favorites to break through and win it all. The Tigers didn’t disappoint, going unbeaten through a dominant campaign to enter the playoffs with the No. 1 seed. On Friday afternoon at the CSU-Pueblo Thunderbowl, the Tigers finished off their dominant run with a 62-21 victory over No. 2 Stratton in the 6-man state championship game.
The Cheyenne Wells Tigers program finally has its first title.
“We worked so hard for this,” Tigers senior Cade Mitchek said. “After we lost in the semis last year, we just worked so hard all summer and all offseason. We worked our butts off and came back here to prove that we want this. Everyone was locked in, knowing that we weren’t going to lose this game because we earned it and we’re the best team.
“It’s crazy because this just sets the foundation for the young guys coming in.”
Awarded a trophy football encased in glass for Most Outstanding Player after the game, Mitchek did something special with nearly every single football he was handed over the two-plus hours that resulted in that recognition.
Mitchek scored six of the Tigers’ eight touchdowns – five on the ground and one receiving score. He finished the game with 219 rushing yards and 61 receiving yards for an incredible 280 yards of total offense.
“Big-time players come up in big-time games,” Cheyenne Wells head coach Myles Smith said. “Them guys up front did one heck of a job and he was able to get through there on some big runs. We know how explosive he is, but it takes all of them and they all did their jobs today.”
The Tigers (13-0) burned through their 2021 season, winning by an average margin of victory of 46.2 points. Way back in Week 2 on Sept. 4, Stratton was the only team this fall that stayed within 15 points of Cheyenne Wells. And in Friday’s title game, the No. 2 Eagles (11-2) halted the Tigers’ opening drive with an interception by Cyler Notter.
But it wasn’t long before Cheyenne Wells found its form. After two rushing scores from Mitchek and one by Evan Worley, who accounted for the pair of Tigers touchdowns Mitchek didn’t score on Friday, and Cheyenne Wells led 24-0 after the first quarter. Notter caught a long pass from Charlie Tagtmeyer to get Stratton on the board before Mitchek’s third touchdown sent the Tigers into the locker room with a 32-6 halftime lead.
The Tigers recovered a fumble on the first scrimmage play of the second half and three plays later, Blake Gilmore found Mitchek in the end zone on a scramble play to put the Tigers up 40-6. Stratton’s Alex Cruz threw a 69-yard touchdown pass to Tagtmeyer, then another Mitchek answer gave Cheyenne Wells a 48-14 lead going into the fourth quarter. Back-to-back rushing scores from Mitchek and Worley put the game out of reach before Stratton’s Riley Shean ripped off a long scoring run the made the score 62-21 with under two minutes left.
“I can’t even explain the feeling right now,” Smith said. “I’m just so happy for these guys, the coaches, all of our families and just the entire community. I couldn’t be happier. Hats off to Stratton. They’re a heck of a team and a good bunch of coaches. We just came out and we wanted to set that tone and these guys did that. They’ve been determined all year and in the end, they got the job done.”
Since separating from a coop with Liberty that won titles in 2013 and 2018, being back on its own has made this season an interesting one for the Eagles. They also had a dominant run down the home stretch of the 2021 season, shutting gout five of their final seven opponents before Friday and scoring a season-high 78 points in a semifinal win over Granada.
In the final game of the 2021 season, Mitchek and the Tigers were just too much to handle. Still, Eagles head coach Jesse McConnell couldn’t help but leave the Thunderbowl with thoughts of a bright future at Stratton.
“This is my first year as head coach and I told the kids that I love them to death and I’m proud of them,” McConnell said. “I’ll miss those seniors but like I told them, I hope the younger kids learn from it and know that they’ve got to do things in the offseason the right way or else we’ll have this feeling again.”
